Q Driving back from Tahoe, I noticed Caltrans has almost finished the widening of Interstate 205 through Tracy. Any idea when the third lanes will open?

Will Clinton
San Jose

A Late next year. A number of bridges still need to be widened before freeway work is done. This will include repaving the 11 miles from Hansen Road to I-5.

Q Thank you for all the updates on the ongoing construction at Mission Boulevard and Interstate 880. However, I can’t find an answer to this: Will the two railroad trestles on Mission be either replaced or combined? Surely they haven’t planned to do all that work and limit the road to two lanes there.

Steve Holloway

A Both trestles will be replaced. When work ends on the Mission-880 interchange, construction will begin to widen Mission to three lanes in each direction up to Warm Springs Boulevard.

This will require replacing the two Union Pacific bridges that cross over Mission into one double-track bridge near the existing western bridge. Later, the Valley Transportation Authority will build a new bridge for the BART extension into Santa Clara County.

There are several other elements of the next phase. An underpass at Warren Avenue will be built south of Mission so that Warren goes under the Union Pacific and BART tracks. Plus, ramps will be added between Mission and Kato Road, which now passes over Mission. This work could begin late next year and be completed in 2013.

Q I have seen the Highway Patrol zinging guys for cutting in at the Interstate 880 to I-238 interchange in San Leandro. They park back a ways on the shoulder, point at the miscreants and wave them over. Very nice. But can Caltrans put in those orange plastic pylons for a quarter or half a mile back? This would prevent idiots from stopping in front of tractor-trailers in the slow lane and waiting to get in.

Bill Becker

A Sorry, the answer is no. Putting out orange pylons or other devices to channel traffic presents a couple of problems: Aggressive drivers often just cut in at the beginning of the pylons, and they get knocked down and need to be replaced. This not only adds to the workload of maintenance workers, but can confuse drivers who find pylons there one day and gone the next.

Q Are there plans to add a carpool lane on Interstate 680 north from Milpitas to Pleasanton? The commute would be so much better with one.

Michael Yallech
Sunnyvale

A While there are plans to someday add a northbound diamond lane, there is no funding for it. So when it might happen is anyone’s guess. Priority is on the southbound side, where the temporary carpool lane will be converted into a toll lane, with work getting under way later this year.

Q Why do traffic cameras at eastbound Interstate 80 at Ashby Avenue in Berkeley and at 80-580-880 never seem to function when I try to open them? Most of the time I get a blank screen.

Tim Hayes
El Sobrante

A There have been problems with communication lines, but these could be fixed soon. Click on http://video.dot.ca.gov/ for TV feeds.

Q Here’s one way a big truck is good: My significant other is down in Santa Barbara and is Swiss-German, so he likes Schadenfreude.He was driving his GM truck in the middle lane on 101 when he noticed a BMW zipping up on his right. The driver darted over to the fast lane, hit the brakes and darted back to quickly exit the freeway. The driver had cut off another who had to hit the brakes so hard there was smoke from his tires. The driver of the BMW flipped off the one who had to avoid him. How does this relate to Schadenfreude and a big truck? Shielded by the truck was the motorcycle cop on the left. My significant other saw the cop giving the BMW the riot act.

Kathryn Wood
San Jose

A And a ticket, I presume.

Contact Gary Richards at mrroadshow@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5335. The fax number is (408) 288-8060. Please leave a daytime phone number.

Gary Richards has covered traffic and transportation in the Bay Area as Mr. Roadshow since 1992. Prior to that he was an assistant sports editor at the paper from 1984-1987. He started his journalism career as a sports editor in Iowa in 1975.

Three women have told the New York Times that music mogul Russell Simmons raped them, the latest in a cascade of serious allegations of sexual misconduct against powerful men in entertainment, media, politics and elsewhere.